


What A Ride

by DesertVixen



Category: Dungeons and Dragons (Cartoon)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-11 13:43:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20547122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesertVixen/pseuds/DesertVixen
Summary: Presto and friends head off to the amusement park on a sunny Sunday...





	What A Ride

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Dragonbat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonbat/gifts).

Presto woke with a start, and found himself staring up at his ceiling. Somehow, he had been expecting…something else.

He’d just had the most incredible, intense dream of his life.

In the dream, he had been in a strange land, wearing the garb of magician and traveling with some of his friends. There had been other people with them – a strange little bald man who was always leading them into danger, a small unicorn, a fearsome wizard who cast lightning bolts from his hands, a young girl with dark eyes, a fearsome skeleton warrior who transformed back into a night, a very ill-tempered dragon with five heads, and the girl.

The girl.

The girl with the long red hair and incredible magical talent, the girl who created illusions that fooled the fearsome wizard. He remembered carrying her, having her head resting against his shoulder, and feeling like he was finally the hero for once.

Presto wished he could remember her name. It had all seemed so real.

But today was a bright sunny Sunday, and they were going to the amusement park. He could hardly wait.

***

It had taken quite a bit of convincing on Presto’s part to get his parents to let him go to the amusement park without them. After all, the first report card of the school year had been a good one, and he was hardly setting off on some great adventure – just going to their local amusement park. Of course, before his mother dropped him off, she made sure to ask if he was wearing sunscreen, remind him not to eat too much junk food, and not to run off with any strangers. Presto was beginning to think that she was going to lecture him forever, until he spotted Sheila and Bobby. Their parents were friendly, and his mom thought Sheila was a nice, reliable girl.

“Mom,” Presto said the first time it appeared there was an actual break in his mother’s flood of reminders. “Sheila and Bobby are waiting for me.”

His mother looked up, blinking at him from behind her glasses. “Sheila?”

Presto pointed to where Sheila was standing by the ticket booth, holding her little brother’s hand. “Over there.”

Sheila waved in their direction. “Come on, Presto!”

“Well, have fun then,” his mother said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Call if you have any problems – you do have extra change, right?”

“Yes, Mom.” He slid out of the car before she could get started again, and waved at his mother as she drove off.

“I see your mom is still super-overprotective,” Sheila teased as she gave Presto a hug. “Too bad you don’t have a little brother or sister to split her focus.”

“Tell me about it,” he said. “Are we the first ones here?”

“Diana’s inside already. She said for us to meet her by the midway games.”

Presto grinned. “Is she still trying to win that stuffed unicorn?”

It was a running joke for their group – their friend Diana wanted a stuffed unicorn, and by this time had probably spent enough money on the midway games to have bought several unicorns.

They were joined by Hank and Eric within a few minutes, and got in line to buy their tickets. Sheila and Hank were standing together, as usual, which meant Presto could hang out with Eric or Bobby. It was a tossup which one could act more immature. Presto decided he’d try his luck with Eric first.

“Where’s Jimmy Whitaker?” Presto asked.

“He couldn’t keep his lousy report card hidden, and now he has a whole weekend or two full of makeup work,” the taller boy answered. “Too bad for him.”

*** 

Diana had not made much progress towards the stuffed unicorn, but she was gamely spending her allowance. Presto thought it was a little amusing that a girl who was also a state championship gymnast couldn’t knock over a few milk bottles to win a prize.

When they moved on from the midway, it was Bobby who was clutching a stuffed unicorn almost as big as he was, and Diana was trying to bribe him to give it up, when she wasn’t grumbling about his lucky run at whack-a-mole. The rides were calling, especially the roller coasters, and then it was time for lunch. 

As always with their group, pizza ruled the day – it was the easiest way to accommodate everyone, from Bobby’s refusal to eat anything that resembled a vegetable, to Eric’s extra mushrooms. Despite the fact that they had eaten enough popcorn and candy to give them an upset stomach for a week, everyone ate as if they were starving.

They’d gone through the funhouse, with Diana making a failed attempt to kidnap the unicorn while Bobby was distracted by the mirrors that made him look huge next to Hank. The amusement park was a familiar and safe place for them, and they wandered down towards the area where construction barriers had been up all summer. They had finally been torn down, and Presto was curious to see what they had built.

“Hey, look, it’s a Dungeons and Dragons ride!” Bobby shouted. “It looks awesome!”

“Let’s ride it,” Hank suggested to the group. Of course, he managed to maneuver it so he could sit by Sheila, and Eric beat Presto to grab the seat next to Diana, even if it meant being in the middle. Bobby managed to squish the unicorn down in the front of the car, and they were off.

It was pretty cool, with dragons breathing fire…until it wasn’t cool. The car was coming off tracks, and Presto could hear everyone yelling as the car started falling, then disappeared. He didn’t know what was going on, but he had a very bad feeling about all of it.

When they landed, it was chaos. Presto looked down at himself, saw the long green robe and floppy hat that made him look like a bad stage magician, then looked at the others. They were all dressed in strange clothing, and the little man in the red robe smiled a benevolent smile as a unicorn ran up to Bobby, bleating in fear.

Then Presto didn’t have time to think, because they were faced with a fire-breathing dragon. At least, one of her heads was breathing fire. Without really thinking about it, he reached into the hat, and pulled out climbing ropes. Not that the position on top of the cliff was any better, with the evil wizard waiting for them. Luckily, he and the dragon did not appear to be friends. The little man called him Venger.

“I am Dungeon Master, your guide in the realm of Dungeons and Dragons,” the little man said, and Presto felt a chill up and down his spine.

Presto looked up, and realized that the sky looked very familiar, just like the one in his dream. Maybe he would wake up again in his own bed. But somehow, Presto didn’t think so.

He wondered when they would meet the girl with the red hair.

Presto hoped it was soon.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! I thought it would be fun to play around with what happens before the show kicks off...


End file.
